Imagining Racially Just Futures

Wednesday, July 28 at 10:45 AM-12:00 PM

Design methods for long-term visions

Visions of better futures are powerful in motivating people through complex change. In the complex work toward racial justice, future visions can help align constituents toward action. Long-term visions can ease fears about change, highlighting benefits rather than losses. However, it can be tough to imagine achieving racial justice. Racism is so deeply embedded in society. In this 75-minute workshop, we will first offer a brief introduction to the idea of futuringand how it might support racial justice work, with an emphasis on hands-on tools. We will practice strategic futuring tools, such as Backcasting, to reveal new paths forward. We will brainstorm artifacts from possible futures in groups and then work individually on our own ideal maps. Our hope for this workshop is to offer a new perspective on difficult challenges. We believe that thinking about long-term, possible, preferable futures gives people a powerful lens to reframe their current context and an understanding of what pushes them to create the world they want to live in. Participants will leave with two activities to try with their teams, or personally, to define the world they are working toward and how to get there.

Presenters

Hillary Carey Hillary Carey is a Designer and Ph.D. researcher. She studies how the wisdom of anti - oppression work can inform new approaches in design, and how designing can support the work of anti - racism. Recent publications include two conference papers: Anti - Oppression Mindsets for Collaborative Design (2020) and Fictional, Interactive Narrative as a Foundation to Talk about Racism (2020). With 15 years of experience teaching both in business and college classrooms, Hillary loves to work alongside people who are engaging with creative challenges. As a white, cis - gendered woman working on topics around racism, Hillary is always practicing ways to de - center whiteness, learn from different standpoints, and create spaces for all participants to share their perspectives.

Rachel Arredondo Rachel Arredondo is currently a Masters student at Carnegie Mellon University. As a first - generation Mexican - American, she is creating equitable and inclusive design futures. She participates in the Anti - Bias Learning Committee and has worked with the Actional Futures Toolkit in her previous work. Rachel completed a degree in Digital Arts and Professional Writing from the University of North Carolina. After graduating, she lived in rural Japan for three years, teaching English. As one of the founding members of the design team at Calendly, she led talks and workshops on creating inclusive design and team culture. In her professional and academic work, she blends these experiences into actionable methods and practices.

 

 Workshop Materials

Imagining Racially Just Futures - Dismantling Oppressive Systems.pdf Download Imagining Racially Just Futures - Dismantling Oppressive Systems.pdf

 

Method Toolkit_ Future-Backwards [DOS] Interactive .pdf Download Method Toolkit_ Future-Backwards [DOS] Interactive .pdf